


Family, Now

by Nebulad



Series: Sea of Stars [16]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Family Bonding, Fluff, Gen, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-11-09
Packaged: 2018-04-30 19:10:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5176403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nebulad/pseuds/Nebulad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Don’t take dad too seriously- Garrus is the first child. My parents made the mistake of fantasizing about his life before he was old enough to live it. They planned too far ahead- it’s why him and Garrus fight all the time. Dad wants the best for him, but isn’t willing to budge on what best means,” Solana said sympathetically, blasting a round into an engineer before they had the opportunity to set up a turret.</p><p>“I just- I was sort of hoping that saving the galaxy would endear me to him a little,” Faust said helplessly, lifting and slamming three foot soldiers.</p><p>“It did! It’s why he’s so pissed off all the time. He’s still not willing to admit that Garrus was right to pick you, because that would mean that he was right to quit C-Sec to follow you,” she explained.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family, Now

“I’ll bring you back something nice,” Garrus promised. In truth, he was more distressed about leaving Faust for a month than she was. He worried- all the time, constantly, about everything, but this time in particular- about leaving her alone for the first time since the war ended. It hadn’t been so long that Faust wasn’t used to being alone…

… maybe she was a  _little_ more apprehensive about the prospect than she let on, but god forbid Garrus actually have  _evidence_ that she might not be totally fine by herself for four weeks. She wasn’t even alone, technically. Talus and Solana Vakarian were staying with her, as there was no house on Palaven to return to and C-Sec was already crowded with police families.

Well, she had Solana to hang around with at least. Talus was still avoiding her as much as possible, and was actually trying to get Solana to do the same. Apparently Shepard’s undue influence was even extending to her soon-to-be sister-in-law.

“Call me when you get there,” Faust said, letting a little bit of her anxiety seep into the conversation. Garrus nuzzled her, flexing his mandibles against her cheeks in an imitation kiss.

“We can vid chat at any time- if you start having nightmares just call me,” he told her seriously.

“Right back atcha big guy.”

“Garrus, you’re going to miss your flight,” Solana scolded, trying for all the world to put on a brave face. She was younger than Garrus but not by much, and had apparently been heavily affected by his absence. They’d fought a lot, but differently than Garrus had fought with his dad.  _With Lana it was… it was less permanent. She could be reaming me out for never being there one minute, then sending me varren videos the next,_ he’d said.

The war had been hard on her, and she wasn’t thrilled to watch her brother leave so soon after reuniting with him. “Make sure dad isn’t too rude to Shepard,” Garrus told her, tugging her carapace.

“Only a little?”

“Keeps her ego down,” he said, and Solana laughed shakily. “You too, you know. Call me if you need me.”

“Why in the world would I need you?” Solana asked, openly blubbering a little. “I have Shepard, I don’t need the sidekick.”

“Ouch.”

“Now go catch your damn flight,” she insisted, giving him a quick hug before darting back to Shepard. They waved as he disappeared to board, and neither of them moved until his ship was out of sight. “You wanna get something to eat?” Solana asked finally, breaking the silence.

Faust, not wanting to admit that she was already feeling her blood pressure rise, nodded.

. . . . .

The apartment was dead silent when they returned, with Talus still busy overseeing repairs to Tayseri Ward. “God, it’s like stepping into a haunted house,” Faust announced, shifting around awkwardly. There was a distinct sense of apprehension dogging her- she wasn’t sure if she expected something bad to happen to Garrus while he was on Palaven, or something bad to happen on the Citadel while she didn’t have her partner with her. Either way, she tried to appear relaxed to keep Solana at ease.

“The human concept of spirits is so bizarre,” Solana said, her smile tight. Shepard’s heart went out to her- she remembered being with Garrus when he’d finally found his father and sister in the wave of refugees that hit the Citadel post-war. Well, to say that  _he’d_ found  _them_ wouldn’t be entirely accurate- Solana had spotted Garrus, shrieked, and launched herself through the crowd so fast that it’d taken them ten minutes to find a very alarmed Talus. To this day he denied it, but Faust  _knew_ she’d seen her boyfriend crying.

“They’re not the same thing,” Shepard said with a shrug. Turians took their concepts of dead ancestors and the afterlife with a lot more solemnity than humans- in retrospect, Solana probably thought Faust had meant a house actually haunted by ghosts, and not the cheap county fair ride where people in sheets leapt out from around corners.

“I’ll take you to mom’s memorial one day, so you can learn about  _real_ spirits,” she said with a grin. Faust had never had the opportunity to meet Mesia Vakarian, or even heard when she’d died. Garrus was just naturally tight-lipped about his family… besides Talus, at least, but in all fairness most of that was thinly veiled resentment.

Silence fell again as both of them shifted around the apartment nervously. Solana technically did have duties she could be attending to- so did Shepard. Solana had decided to stay with the military for much longer than her brother had bothered to, and in doing so had climbed higher in the ranks than he had. She could be down in the wards like her father, directing turian relief efforts on behalf of Palaven.

Shepard could pick a spot and take command. There wasn’t a person in the galaxy who would contest her, which was why she’d been trying to keep reclusive- that, and the sometimes overwhelming post-traumatic stress she’d been  _lucky_ enough to develop. Medics said it was unsurprising, really- Faust viewed it as largely inconvenient  _at best._

Garrus had it too- another place Shepard didn’t have to go without Vakarian, until he went to Palaven and she couldn’t follow because her immune system was weakened by stress and the planet wasn’t hospitable to humans.

“We should head down to Zakera later,” Solana suggested suddenly. “Help them out a little- you’re friends with Bailey, right? He’ll be glad to see you up and about again.”

“Or he’ll politely but firmly ask me to leave before my presence invites a swarm of goddamn malfunctioning mechs or something,” Faust returned teasingly.

. . . . .

“You have got to be  _fucking kidding me!”_  Faust shouted, ducking behind cover just as the merc heavy launched a missile her way. Her ears rang so loudly that she could barely hear Solana’s answer.

“Well, it isn’t mechs,” she said, darting over cover to let off a round before coming back down. “That’s something.” It was mercenaries- several rejects from the Blue Suns, Bloodpack, and Eclipse that had decided against Aria’s rule and launched an attack against the vulnerable Citadel. Shepard figured most of them were pretty tweaked to think they were gunna get past C-Sec’s increased post-war security, but it was  _massively_ inconvenient either way.

And what were the chances they’d decide to hit Zakera Ward first?

Solana had a gun she’d taken off of a fallen merc, but Shepard hadn’t had the good luck to find a weapon she knew how to use. To compensate, she’d kicked her biotics into overdrive- Cerberus had  _really_ done a number on her implants, and coupled with the fact that most of her was cybernetic, she had  _incredible_ capabilities.

 _Plus,_ Miranda had said,  _no formal training to limit your imagination._

(She  _really_ wanted to try stopping a missile mid-flight, but decided to take a less dangerous opportunity to do so)

“All right, Shepard, I’m going to try and shoot them into a cluster- you think you can-”

“On it,” Faust said with a grin. Solana smiled back and rolled out from their cover to start to flank the group. They backed up in sync and Faust stood to deliver a  _devastating_ flare attack.

Reinforcements swelled right behind their fallen bodies and Faust resolved herself to have a word with Aria. Meanwhile, she locked eyes with another vanguard- she could always sense them on the field, like her class had a  _scent-_ and charged. It was a matter of pride really- to the victor goes the first charge.

She darted backwards, grateful again for her biotics, and sat under cover. “ _Zakera Ward? Does anyone read me?”_ Her omnitool was flashing but Faust felt like Talus was going to be disappointed with who answered his call.

“Hi Mr. Vakarian,” she said pleasantly, darting up to check Solana’s position. She was fine, if a little exposed- Faust gestured her back, creating a perfunctory barrier so she didn’t have to worry about dodging bullets.

“ _Shepard? What the hell is going on?”_  he demanded just as his daughter sat down.

“Hi dad,” she offered briefly, sitting up to shoot again. She was  _tireless._ “We’re in a bit of a fix right now- C-Sec got any backup for us?”

“ _Is it just you two?”_  he asked anxiously.

“No, but most are occupied with keeping them from leaving the ward. We’re at the landing zone,” Faust explained. “Bunch of merc rejects trying to stage a coup I guess.”

“ _Are you armed?”_

“I am, Faust isn’t but her biotics are  _amazing_.”

“Benefits of only technically being partially human- and hey now, where the hell was I when you took out two mercs with one shot?”

“Drawing fire and throwing flares like candy at a parade,” Solana laughed.

“ _Delightful. I’ll be down in a second with a squadron,”_  Talus said, then his line went dead. Shepard frowned a little as she sent an already-destroyed skycar skidding into their flank.

“Don’t take him too seriously- Garrus is the first child. My parents made the mistake of fantasizing about his life before he was old enough to live it. They planned too far ahead- it’s why him and Garrus fight all the time. Dad wants the best for him, but isn’t willing to budge on what  _best_ means,” Solana said sympathetically, blasting a round into an engineer before they had the opportunity to set up a turret.

“I just- I was sort of hoping that saving the galaxy would endear me to him a  _little,”_  Faust said helplessly, lifting and slamming three foot soldiers.

“It did! It’s why he’s so pissed off all the time. He’s still not willing to admit that Garrus was right to pick you, because that would mean that he was right to quit C-Sec to follow you,” she explained. She was running out of ammo so Shepard waved her hand and charged forward to headbutt a particularly brave salarian and take his ammo belt.

“I’m not a good family member- not a lot of practice,” Faust continued as she returned with the loot. “I want to give it a go for Garrus’ sake, but I feel like I just fuck up worse every time I try to make an effort.”

“Mom was the tactful one,” Solana said, pausing for a moment to catch her breath. “Dad just… aggressively and pigheadedly wants us to be happy, and doesn’t understand that happiness is a subjective thing. Just because he was overjoyed with marrying a proper turian woman and having two kids and a house in Cipritine doesn’t mean that  _that’s_ the definition of happiness.” Solana shot a batarian, and then added, “And you’re making a great sister, so far.”

Faust grinned and went a little red then stood to release a shockwave, but a foot soldier was a little bit faster. The shot went into her shoulder and she froze- the pain was bad, but what was worse was feeling very suddenly like she had just woken up in a strange surgery room with a stranger-yet voice telling her to get armed or die. She…  _knew,_ logically, that she wasn’t there- she’d been alive again for a while now, and the voice that had been speaking to her was Miranda, but the disorientation hit her like…

… like a bullet in the shoulder.

The asari that had hit her raised their gun again, but a shot directly in the side of the head stopped them dead just in time for Solana to drag Faust back to the ground and start applying medigel. The cool relief brought her, more or less, back to the present moment. “I’m sorry,” she blurted.

“It’s fine, Faust,” Solana assured her.

“Nice shot,” she added with a shaky smile.

“That wasn’t me,” she returned, gesturing towards the entrance. Talus stood there rigidly, directing his men with passive hand gestures- his role was mostly in the event that the mercs put up some sort of fight. They didn’t, most of them surrendering upon seeing C-Sec anyway. Those that didn’t weren’t standing for much longer.

“Are you all right, Commander?” Talus called down.

“I’ve been worse,” she returned. Her legs were shaking a little and Solana suggested that they stay under cover until C-Sec had dealt with the whole of the mercs. “I guess he doesn’t hate me enough to want me dead,” Shepard said, feeling a little bit of hope rise in her chest.

“Faust, I promise you that my dad secretly thinks that you’re the absolute best match Garrus could find in the entire galaxy. You’re everything a turian father wants in a daughter-in-law: you’re dependable, strong, quick thinking, inspiring, and you act like you’re afraid he’s going to snap you in half.”

“Yes. Act.” She cast a quick glance up at Talus and wondered what her own dad would have thought of her boyfriend.

. . . . .

“Are you all right?” Garrus asked frantically. The call had come in not long after the Citadel had settled down again, while Faust hung around in Huerta for a little while. Chakwas had given her the okay to leave just before her omnitool had begun to buzz.

“Yeah I’m fine. Solana’s fine too, and a better shot than you,” she said with a sleepy grin. She may have overdone the medi-gel a little, but the absence of pain grounded her into the moment.

“Don’t tell her that.”

“I’ve already told her, several times. Your dad’s all right too,” she said, swinging her legs. “Shot an asari in the head to stop her from blowing my brains all over the ground.”

“Of course he did. You’re family, no matter how he feels about it- what happened that she was going to shoot you and  _you_ couldn’t do anything?” he asked. She shifted.

“Got a bit nervous,” she admitted, hoping he understood without her having to spell it out. He did, of course.

“You wanna talk about it?” he asked.

“Not in the middle of the hospital, no. What are you up to?” she asked.

“Uh. Trying to think of a dignified re-entrance to make into the meeting I stormed out of when I heard the Citadel got attacked and Commander Shepard was shot,” he said sheepishly. She grinned.

“Tell Victus I say hi.”

“I’m sure he’ll be relieved.”

“Call me back later before you start an incident,” she scolded half heartedly. They said their goodbyes and Shepard hung up, surprised when she looked up and saw Talus. He was talking to a nurse, who pointed him in her direction and then scurried off.

“Commander,” he greeted tightly. “I was… just checking in.”

Faust was way too hopped up on medi-gel to try and swallow her grin.

**Author's Note:**

> another tumblr prompt !! this one was gr8 I loved it. I love this horrible nerdy Frankenstein family.
> 
> nebulaad.tumblr.com


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